Watch Me Burn
by the-gold-eyed-girl
Summary: Leo Valdez is your average 15-going-on-16 year-old kid. Well. Mostly. Other than the fact that he accidentally burned down his house when he was eight and killed his mother (but let's not put it like that). So...it comes as a shock when he meets a bunch of kids who're lives are just as messed up as his is. AU in which the gods don't exist. T just to be safe, no swearing.


**I know, I know, I need to stop writing new things and start focusing more on the stories I already have.**

 **To those who are going to nag and nag about it, lemme say: F*ck off.**

 **Sorry. I'm kind of grumpy right now. Also, I've been watching too many movies with Wolverine and Deadpool in them. But oh my gosh I had no idea what I was missing! The X-Men movies are AWESOME! And any movie with Logan, because he's awesome too. And Days of the Future Past and Apocalypse. Quicksilver is just...I have no words. He should have a bigger part in it. But can you believe it? The Wolverine 3 is the last time Hugh Jackman's gonna be Wolverine! *sobs*** ** _Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy..._**

 **So yeah...when that movie comes out in 2017 I'm going to be a crying wreck. *sigh* WHY, goddammit?**

 **Oh, and if any of you guys wanna watch any of the movies so you can fall in love with them and then share my pain, just google (or yahoo or whatever it is you use) search '123movies' and click on the first icon that says for you to watch free movies. There are a lot of ads that pop up as new browsers whenever I first press a button but keep going and you'll be able to watch the movies for free.**

 **Finally, one more thing I have to scream about: The Juno probe orbiting Jupiter! (I'm super interested in Astrophysics, outer space, black holes, dark matter, stuff like that. I told my friends about it and they were like,** ** _Jeez, it's just a space probe, calm down!_** **And I was like,** ** _just_** ** _a space probe? It's going to teach us soooo much about the outer planets and Jupiter and..._** **and I basically rambled forever.) What** ** _really_** **got my attention was that they named the probe that's orbiting Jupiter 'Juno'. When I realised the significance of that I just stared at my screen and was like** ** _Well played, NASA. Well played._**

 **And yes. The name of this story is 'Watch Me Burn'. Titles are hard to come up with. Sue me. For now I'll keep it but if you guys can help me come up with a better title that would be great.**

.

 **Well, that's all, folks, and thanks for reading!**

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

 **Nah, just kidding. On with the story!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson franchise or fandom or kingdom or whatever it is. This disclaimer goes for the rest of this story and I do not expect to hear any complaints about me not doing it in later chapters.** ** _Clear?_** **Good.**

.

Leo swung his backpack over one shoulder. He stared at one of the many signs on the building's wall - _MISS TANYA'S GROUP COUNSELLING OFFICE FOR CHILDREN._ He looked back at where his social worker had dropped him off, but she was already gone. For some reason, Social Services had decided that Leo needed _help_. Like hell he did. Sure, he was possibly the most ADHD person to ever live and he had a knack for getting in trouble, but it certainly had nothing to do with his dad or his mom- 'Bad Leo', he gently told himself. 'No thinking about Mom, remember?'

"Who're you talking to?" A female voice came from behind him. Leo whirled around and saw a Native American girl about his age looking at him, not in a mean or high-and-mighty way like the children in his orphanage did, but in a genuinely curious way. She had choppy, messily-cut hair with a small braid in it, and her eyes - actually, Leo couldn't tell what colour her eyes were. They seemed to keep changing.

He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts and replied, "Myself." The girl nodded wisely as if talking to oneself was completely normal. Leo tilted his head toward the sign on the wall. "You going there?" He asked.

"Yup. You?"

"Uh-huh. What did you do to get sent here?" Leo inquired.

"Eh. I didn't really do anything. My mom owns a famous clothes store line and she lives in LA, so I don't see her much, and my father's an actor that's pretty much never home. His assistant Mellie thought that it would be good for me to come here to 'bond with other children' that have 'issues'." She put finger quotes around the word _issues_ and glanced at Leo with a sideways look, as if to say that she didn't mean any offence. "So...what about you? Why're you here?"

At her words, Leo looked down at the ground. "I...I'd rather not say," Leo mumbled. The girl looked curious but kept her mouth shut, which was nice of her. "We should get going. Don't wanna be late." Leo said to her. She nodded.

As they were walking through the doors to the building, the girl asked, "What's your name?"

"Leo Valdez."

"Piper McLean."

Leo stopped in his tracks. "Wait, McLean as in...?"

"Yep." Her short, clipped tone made it clear that she didn't want to talk about it. Leo decided that since she had been kind enough to not further inquire about what had caused him to be sent to the counselling office, he would do the same and not mention her father.

They walked in silence to the building's lobby. They took a look at the sign next to the elevator. The counselling office was on the thirty-third floor. And the elevator was out of service. Leo raised an eyebrow at Piper. "Race you," he said. He then took off and dashed for the stairs, doing two at a time.

"Wha-Leo!" Piper raced after him.

* * *

Leo panted as he climbed the final step. Piper smirked at him with her arms crossed, looking at him from the entrance to the counselling office. "Remind me...to not...engage...in any...stair-climbing races...with you." Leo bent down to catch his breath.

Piper held the glass door open. "C'mon. Everyone else is already here." She walked inside, leaving Leo to scramble in after her. Leo quickly surveyed the room and took in all the people in it. There was a big main room, and several smaller ones that branched off from it. Leo and Piper walked up to the registration counter.

"Names?"

"Uh...Piper McLean and Leo Valdez."

The lady at the desk peered over her glasses as if trying to decide if the two children disturbing her were worth her time or not. Evidently, they weren't, as she waved her hand dismissively towards a door marked ROOM 3 - MS AMANDA. Leo watched the woman, wondering if she was going to say anything more, and when she didn't, Leo shrugged and walked with Piper into the room.

He walked in, and saw several people seated on a circular rug. At the back of the room, facing the rest of the kids, was a woman who looked like she was in her early to mid thirties, who Leo assumed was Ms Amanda. The door slammed shut loudly behind him and Piper, and the kids all turned and looked at him.

There were two kids about a year older than Leo, a boy and a girl, that were sitting next to each other and holding hands in a way that friends didn't, so Leo guessed that they were a couple. They boy had messy raven-black hair and sea-green eyes that had a sort of broken quality to them, and the girl had curly, blonde hair and grey eyes. The girl stared Leo down (or up, rather, seeing as she was sitting on the ground and he was standing up), and he decided then and there that the 'dumb blonde' stereotype was definitely just a stereotype. He was _not_ going to mess with her.

Beside the two of them, there was a younger, Italian-looking boy with dark hair and eyes that looked like the other boy's - like shattered glass. He had a sort of emo look to him, and had dark bags under his eyes. Next to him, there was a girl with dark skin and frizzy brown hair. She also looked similar to the Italian boy's age. Her eyes were gold, which Leo found intriguing.

A boy with blonde hair and electric-blue eyes looked at Leo as if he was wondering if he'd seen him before. Leo doubted it, unless that boy had ever been in any of his foster homes or orphanages. There was one last person sitting on the rug - a girl with red hair that was frizzy like the gold-eyed girl, green eyes, and colourful, paint-splattered clothes. Ms Amanda looked at Leo, and smiled hugely. "Hello, Leo and Piper. I'm Ms Amanda Tan, but you can call me Amanda." She said in a voice that was as sweet as syrup. Instantly, Leo disliked her. It simply was not natural for one to smile so big, wear so much make-up, and talk in such a honeyed voice. "Please, take a seat," Ms Amanda continued, her too-large-for-her-foundation-covered-face smile never wavering.

Leo squeezed between the boy with the blue eyes and the black haired boy. Piper sat next to the girl with the red hair. "Now, we have two new members to our happy group today!" Ms Amanda said brightly. "Why don't you all stand up and take turns introducing yourself? Hazel, let's start with you."

The girl with gold eyes, Hazel, stood up from where she was sitting and said in a soft and gentle voice, "Hi. My name is Hazel Levesque. I'm thirteen years old, and this is my half-brother, Nico."

Hazel pointed at the emo boy sitting next to her feet and then started to sit down. "Hazel," Ms Amanda interrupted, "Why don't you tell Leo and Piper why you're here?"

Hazel shifted uncomfortably, and said, "Well...um...my mom died a while ago, and my father thinks I need grief counselling, and he decided that a group session was the best way to go." She sat down, looking somewhat flustered. Leo understood. It was always hard to talk about a parent when they died. He knew that.

Next to her, Nico stood up. The Italian boy muttered, "I'm Nico di Angelo." He then sat down in silence. Ms Amanda looked at him for a second as if she wanted to comment, but then decided against it. Apparently this was a regular thing with Nico di Angelo.

Next, the boy with green eyes stood up, although Leo noted the fact that while he (reluctantly) let go of the scary grey-eyed girl's hand, they didn't stop making contact, and her hand was holding on to his ankle. "My name is Percy Jackson." He pointed to the blonde girl. "That's my girlfriend Annabeth. I'm here because...uh..."

He looked desperately at Annabeth, who said, "Percy has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He doesn't like talking about it though." Percy sat down and looked gratefully at Annabeth, who stayed sitting as she introduced herself. "When I was seven, I ran away from home." _Respect,_ Leo thought. "Basically, I've been going to this hellhole ever since."

Ms Amanda's smile looked strained. "Now, come on, Annabeth. Be polite, please."

Annabeth looked her right in the eye, and for a short moment they had a staring contest, until Ms Amanda backed down. She coughed. "Jason, it's your turn." The guy with blonde hair hair looked around, and seemed to realise that the counsellor was talking to him.

"Oh." He stood up. "Hey, my name's Jason Grace. My older sister Thalia used to go here until a little while ago. I'm here because I fell off a pine tree that I was climbing and severe amnesia a while back and basically forgot everything. I got my memories back, but, um, people say that I've changed. My girlfriend Reyna thought that I should come here so I could try and...you know."

Leo hadn't been paying much attention to Piper while the others were introducing themselves, but he noticed that she had been staring at Jason for almost the whole time. Then, when he had mentioned his girlfriend, he could've sworn that Piper had scowled a little. He decided to see how things would play out.

Finally, the girl with Princess Meridah hair stood up and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Rachel Elizabeth Dare. My father's the owner of Dare Enterprises." Rachel said the fact that her dad was the owner of one of the world's largest and most well-known companies like one would comment on the weather. Her tone didn't have any snarkiness or indication that she thought the was better than them. "I got sent here because a while back, I started to draw things that I didn't know about. I started having these dreams every night. And the next day, I'd get these really weird feelings of déjà vu. My father pretty much thought I was going crazy and so now I'm here." Rachel finished and sat back down.

Leo frowned. It was starting to feel like instead of a counselling office, it was a place where parents or guardians dumped kids that had something 'wrong' with them. At least, that was what happened with Leo. He didn't pay attention when Piper was introducing herself, seeing as he already knew who she was. As she spoke, he tapped on the floor wit his fingers nonstop, his nervous energy building up inside of him and trying to find an outlet.

"Leo. _Leo._ LEO!" Leo snapped back to the present.

"Huh?"

"It's your turn," Ms Amanda said through gritted teeth. Her smile was getting more and more forced by the minute, like she was regretting her decision of becoming a counsellor for 'troubled children'.

Leo stood up awkwardly. "Erm...hey. My name's Leo Valdez, I'm fifteen, going on sixteen, and I'd rather not say why I'm here."

Ms Amanda smiled widely, looking somewhat sinister. "Now don't be silly, dear! Tell them why you were sent here."

Leo gritted his teeth and ground them together. "I'd rather. Not. Say."

Ms Amanda sighed, and said, "If you insist..." She faced the rest of the kids in the room. "Leo is possibly more troubled than the rest of you. His father left him when he was just a little kid, and when he was eight, he burned down his house and killed his mother."

Leo could feel all eyes in the room on him, some looking shocked, some looking concerned, but he was too busy trying to keep the voices in his head under control... _No, no, no...Don't, no, please don't..._ They didn't listen.

* * *

 _Leo was in his mother's garage. His mother said, "Leo, pass Mommy the box of matches, will you?"_

 _Leo raced to the table which the matches were on. He grabbed them, and pulled one out. "Mama, can I light it for you?"_

 _"Of course. Just be careful."_

 _Leo carefully selected one matchstick and struck it against the side of the box. It caught fire, and he stared at the flame, transfixed. His mother's sharp tone snapped him out of his trance-like state. "Leo! Drop the match." Leo hadn't noticed that the fire had burned all the way down, almost touching his fingers. He dropped it quickly, and watched the fire snuff out. He pulled out a new matchstick, lit it, and passed it to his mother. As he watched her work, he failed to notice that a single red-hot part of the dropped matchstick was beginning to smoulder._

 _After that, Leo didn't remember much. Only short flashed of memories. His mother's voice, shouting, "Leo! Run! Get out of the house!" Then, himself crying, asking, "Where's Mama?" Finally, a police officer saying, "Sorry, lad. Your mother didn't make it."_

* * *

When Leo came to, he hadn't realised that he had even passed out to begin with. He opened his eyes and saw the concerned faces of Jason and Percy hovering over him. Groggily, he sat up. "What...happened?"

Jason opened his mouth to reply. "I dunno, man. Ms Amanda told us about...that...and the you were kind of whispering to yourself, rocking back and fourth curled up in a ball for a while. You looked like Percy the first few nights after his...ordeal." Percy opened his mouth indignantly, most likely to argue, but Jason cut him off. "Then, you...you blacked out."

"Oh." Leo shook his head like he was trying to shake the damn memories away. He looked around. Nico was sitting in a corner, staring silently at Leo. Piper, Rachel, and Hazel were talking together, and Annabeth was behind Percy. Ms Amanda was nowhere to be found. "Where's Ms Amanda?"

Annabeth answered, "She went to go look for the nurse. No-one's ever fainted during these sessions before." Again, Percy opened his mouth. Annabeth corrected herself. "No-one besides Percy." Nico let out a cough. Annabeth sighed, "No-one _since_ Percy."

Percy looked at Leo and opened his mouth to say something. Before, though, he paused and looked around, as if waiting for some one to interrupt him again. When no one did, he said, "What she did was wrong. It wasn't right for her to talk about what happened with you. That goddamn lady has no sense of privacy whatsoever. She was the same with me, and everyone else here. The only thing that she hasn't been able to get anything out of is Nico." Leo glanced at the younger boy, who looked back at him emotionlessly. Leo had to admit, he admired the younger boy's defiance.

"Anyways," Jason concluded, "No matter what, you're part of out group now. We're gonna stick together." Leo smiled at him.

"Thanks."

"No problem." Jason stood up and offered Leo a hand, who accepted it. Percy got up too.

"I'm going to use the bathroom." He said. "If Ms Amanda comes back before we do, tell her for us?" _We?_ Leo thought.

Annabeth got up and followed Percy out of the room. Leo turned towards Jason, curiosity written all over his face. Jason answered his unspoken question. "You know how Percy has PTSD?" Leo nodded. "Well...he does. And it's really severe. He can't really go without touching, hearing, or seeing Annabeth for too long. She's the only thing that's keeping him sane."

 _Oh._ Leo thought. He wondered what on earth could have possibly happened to Percy to make him that bad, and then decided he didn't want to know. "Then...what about...when he sleeps?" Leo asked.

"For a while, he didn't." Jason answered. "Obviously, he couldn't go so long without sleep, so his mother and Annabeth's parents arranged it. Now they sleep together." Leo choked. "Oh, no, it's not like that," Jason added hastily. "It's...not like that..." He said weakly.

"Mm-hm. And how do you know all this?"

"Oh. Percy's my cousin, as well as Nico. All our fathers are brothers."

"Small world."

"You could say that. Our family has a...history."

Leo grinned. "Well, your life can't be any more messed up than mine!"

Jason grinned back. "Yeah, I guess so."

 **Aaaaand...CUT! Scene! A bunch of other movie-director words that I forgot!**

 **Well, that chapter was relatively long, so, you're welcome. Enjoy. See you next time :)**


End file.
